RE: ADMIN: Civility and content

[MList -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

I too have been subscribed for years'n'years.
I hope that I've contributed, at least occasionally, but overall, I must 
be part of the problem, since I don't really see all that much of a 
problem. 

The things that *I* would like to see on the list are:

a) labels like they use on CE-L (the copyeditors list), and yes that 
  includes the MISC: and CHAT: labels

b) more care (yes I'm guilty) in subject lines

c) related to b), *change* the darn subject when the topic drifts
   and change the label from QUERY: or TOOLS: or whatever to CHAT: 
   when that becomes appropriate

d) and this is the biggie, [SOLVED] posts, which sum up the original 
   problem and the answer(s) that worked. Archives really need 
   such milestones. In fact, the "real" archive should probably 
   consist of just those posts.  Well, maybe there could also be 
   [UNSOLVED] sum-ups for those times that everybody admits there's 
   not a solution, and others would benefit from knowing that they 
   can stop banging their heads...

Yes, I know that Eric pooh-poohed the notion of labels, but they 
have proven very useful on the CE-L.  Lots of people filter out 
the CHAT: and MISC: labels, 'cuz those people are all business, 
all the time.  Other people practically live in the CHAT: section, 
and it helps to keep the list friendly and give it an ongoing 
character, rather than an impersonal, disconnected atmosphere.

Personally, I like to commiserate with folks who are having a 
rough day (or series of days), both to help jolly them along 
until the next patch of solid ground, and to know that other 
people have bad days, too.  As well, I *do* like to share the 
humor of our (sorta) common situation.

Perhaps something could be arranged at the server end, to 
filter certain Subject TAGS: before they are sent to certain 
members, thereby eliminating the bandwidth problem for those 
who live in the technological fringes.

AND ANOTHER THING!   whoops, I was shouting there... sorry... 

If the owner's server bandwidth is not a problem, then the 
sheer volume of messages should not be a problem for the 
rest of us, given that we have labels and good Subject lines 
to rely on. (Condolences to those who are still hostage to 
a pay-per-byte internet connection, but you are vastly in 
the minority.)

A couple of somebodies mentioned the "interruption" factor.
There isn't one. If, in this day and age, you choose to use 
an e-mail reader that isn't capable of filtering/processing 
your incoming mail into sub-folders, then you are the author 
of your own interruption-misfortune.  All the rest of us have 
our various list-related messages automatically shunted into 
off-line (or online) folders, the moment they arrive. My 
inbox *never* has a Techwr-l post or a CE-L post or an OCLUG 
(Ottawa Canada Linux Users Group) post, or a Framers post, 
etc., etc. in it. If I want to peek at those messages, I click 
on the relevant folder in my mail program, where they are all 
nicely arranged in an order that pleases me, with color cues, 
threading, and so on.  This is true at work, where I use 
Outlook, and it's true at home where I use any of several 
free mail programs on Linux.

When I get busy, I can go *days* without reading anything from 
any of the lists.  When I resume, sometimes I don't even 
bother skimming what came in while I was occupied... unless 
there's an interesting thread still going on, and I dig back 
in its history.  That's actually more likely on the lists that 
(whose members, not owners) enforce proper labelling and subject 
lines and subject-line changes.

But again, the list (nor any of the others) never interrupts my 
day or my train of thought, because I -- and the very standard 
technology that I use -- don't let it.

In the techy lists that run most smoothly, it is the members 
who are most likely to say "Please re-Tag or please change 
the Subject line. This is no longer on the original topic." Also, 
when a thread dries up, somebody usually reminds the originator 
that they owe the group a [SOLVED] post or other summary.

The fact of having a CHAT: tag is, indeed, permission to wander 
off into conversational hinterlands, but it is also a way to 
keep the interested people on the list by giving them an easily 
filtered place to take (or even start) threads that are not 
strictly technical.

If there is to be no social element to Techwr-l at all, then 
that doesn't apply.  I hope otherwise. I derive as much value 
from the social outlet of my ... dare I say it... peers, as I 
do from the more technical discussions. 

As others have suggested, if there's a too-low posting limit, 
then I'll save my daily limit in case I have a question.
If I answer anything, ever, I'll have to decide who -- in a day -- 
is worthy of my assistance. Or, I can just save up and 
respond to several queries in one daily post, thereby destroying 
the usefulness of archives.  Well, maybe not if I'm the only one 
doing it, but you get my drift.

/kevin

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